India Receives First Shipment of Critical Medical Supplies as COVID Infection Rates Continue to Soar

The first shipment of critical medical supplies arrived in India Tuesday as the country continues to struggle with a catastrophic second wave of COVID-19 infections, a situation described as “beyond heartbreaking” by the head of the World Health Organization.

A plane from Britain filled with 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators, which collects atmospheric air and converts it into pure oxygen, landed at the airport in Delhi before dawn. The British high commission in India says a total of nine transport planes will deliver nearly 500 oxygen concentrators and 140 ventilators to the South Asian nation this week. Other nations have also pledged to ship badly needed medical supplies to India.  France has promised to send ventilators, oxygen generators and containers of liquid medical oxygen by next week, with Germany, Israel and Pakistan, India’s neighbor and longtime arch-enemy, sending personal protective gear, treatments and diagnostic tests along with ventilators and oxygen.